The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-11-02
THE State UNIVERSITY

rHE State UNIVERSITY.
Reply of Prof. Edward Mayes to
Senator ]. z. George
TcoSTISUED FROM FIRST PAGE.
ton has been located at Oxford, in LaFay-
cite county, where suitable site has been
procured for the buildings. The Trustees
held a meeting in July, 1S45, and subse-
quently furnished me with printed copies
of their proceedings, which / herewith
transmit to the Legislature. An appropri-
alton will be necessary to enable them TO
erect their buildings. Economy should be
observed in their construction; convenience
and durability being consulted rather than
beauty and ornament / recommend that |
the sum set apart be limited to fifty thous- |
and dollars.
This fund was formerly collected through |
the agency of the Planters Bank and by |
law it was invested in the stock of that in |
stitution. 1t was a trust fund, so declared
by the act of Congress making the dona-
ton of lands out of which it sprung. The
Il IN the stock Of any bank she did so, however,
and $S4, 800, with several years interest on
that amount, has been lost. The State rs,
IN nay opinion, under the most solemn oottgd-
ton topdy Il back. 1t is an obligation not to
Congress, but TO the children within her
own borders, for whose special education
the fund was set apart. am fully persua
ded that Mississippi will never incur the
reproach of withholding Justice aud the
means of education from her own children;
and, therefore, / submit the question to you
without discussing the States legal liabili-
| ty. The amount of this fund may be stated
as follows:
| The amount now in the Treasury of the
| State. $IO3,06o AZ
| Lost principal and interest in
Planters Bank, ........... 10000 90
To be collected, but in safe
hands and secure ........ 8,287 SO
| Total. -...... ---..-...-.. SOL ,356 80
'What disposition should be made of this
fund, propose to speak in connection
with another subject.
''The State ought to assume the $4,000
lost in the Planters Bank and place it at
once on the same footing uith the SOB, 287
now in the Treasury. The fund would
then amount in round numbers to S250,000.
Two hundred thousand dollars of this
should be retained as permanent fund,
and the residue appropriated to the cree
ton of College buildings at Oxford, as
heretofore suggested.
'This permanent fund should be kept in
the Treasury and an annual interest of 8
per cent paid on it This interess (S16, 0O0)
should be set apart in the Treasury at the
beginning of every year and kept sacred
and inviolable for the purposes hereafter to
be named; and here let me remark that the
vexation and expense which has attended a
first collection of this fund, and the heavy
and ruinous losses which it has sustained IN
the hands from which it has been slowly
wrung, should admonish the Legislature to
take charge of and keep it secure in future
. "0f the sixteen thousand dollars interest,
| recommend that eight thousand dollars be
appropriated to the annual purposes of the
College. There should be then established
ten Academies or High Schools at as many
: different points in the State, to be designa-
. ted by the Legislature, having reference to
geographical divisions. To each of these
there should be an annual payment of eight
, hundred dollars out of the remaining eight
thousand. Nothing is clearer to my mind,
than that the College will not succeed with.
out the aid of auxiliary schools. These
schools need not, and indeed should not be
in the immediate vicinity of the College
but at such points to give ii the most eff
cient aid, and at the same time to diffuse
the greatest amount of intelligence among
the people. The language of the act OF
Congress in making the grant of land from
which we derive this fund is that sit shall
be vested in the Legislature of the State in
trust for the support of Seminary OF
Learning" This language, "a Seminary
of Learning" has been thought to limit the
Legislature to the establishment of one
school, and to negative the idea that that
school should have auxiliary departments
1t has seemed to me SO palpable that the
Trustees could so act as to carry out the
great object of the trust which was the diff
fusion of kno Wedge, that have not fallen
into what is, to my mind, constrained
idea of the law of Congress. 1t does not
necessarily follow, that because the act of
Congress said ga Seminary that it meant
there should be one school under one roof
or that the SEMINARY" and all its auxiliary
departments should be in the same enclos-
ure, or even in the same city or town. The
spirit of the act of Congress is carried out
: by the establishment of one Seminary
University or College with such auxiliary
departments as are necessary to its success
These should be under the same general super.
uision and control, and be located at suct
points as to be of the greatest advantage to
the main College, and to the cause of edu
cation."-Senate journal, 1916, PIP. 1914
and 1925.
1.-THE buildings for the State University
at Oxford are progressing as rapidly a:
could be anticipated. Iona year
! Of neglect hare disSipated large portion OF
its once munifcent endowment, but enough
has been saved from the general wreck tc
establish the institution on a respe ctablt
and safe footing. In my last general mes
, sage, the Legislature was informed tina
about one hundred thousand dollars of the
University Fund had been lost by an IMPRov
IDENT Investment an Planters Bank Stock Ny
, reasons we're then given for thinking the
State bound to make indemnity for the los,
and although not repeated, they are still en-
tertdined, 4 The whole funds of the
| Institution amount to near ninety -thre.
thousand dollars, exclusive of the Plan
ters' Bank debt. It is hoped no further
appropriation will be required for building
purposes, and that whatever sum is ascer
tanned to be due the UNIVERSITY, will a.
once be put at interest. The State, in my
opinion, should retain the principal anC
pay the interest FOR THE BENEFIT OF TIKI
INSTITUTION in semi annual installments
House Journal 1s4S, PIP. % and %.
All this seems to me so clear as not t.
admit of doubt as to Gov. Browns posi-
ton; especially when it is remembered that
! as already shown, in pursuance of the lat
ter message, the act of 1S4S, whose first sec
ton, taken in connection with the report OF
the committee that brought in the bill, con.
tains an indisputable recognition of ''the
Planters Bank debt, passed; and
that it was approved by Gov. Brown.
Yet, the Senator is ''gIad of this oppor-
| tunity of removing from the name and
memory of Albert Gallatin Brown the re-
proach of having by word or deed given
sanction to this unjust and illegal demand, -
etc. The Senator predicates his claim of
vindication on three propositions. They
are, ~, he expressly waived any discus.
sion of the legal liabilities of the State -
", that ''the solemn obligation re-
ferred to, was not to the University, nor to
Congress, but ''to the children within her
1.-THE State'sl borders" to all of them, not to
the part only who have money to pay their
expenses at a College; (3), because he
recommended that one-half of the interest
be applied to supporting ten academies
situated in different parts of the State, and
that these be under the same control as the
| University" arguing that this 'swould be
no diversion of the fund from "a Seminary
of Learning as it was not necessary all the
teaching should be under one roof
Let us consider these propositions a little,
although they hardly need discussion.
/ l. Gov. Browns submission of the ques-
| ton of repayment without discussion, was
not only accompanied by an express and
emphatic avowal that the investment was
unlawfully made, and the State was under